Rich and Creamy Winter Warming Vegetable Curry

This recipe is one of the most delicious curries I have ever made. It definitely goes onto my top recipes list. I love foods that are aesthetically pleasing and rich in colour and flavor. This is 100% comfort food without having to feel guilty afterwards since it’s full of goodness from different type of vegetables, high in fibre, vitamins and minerals. Lentils and beans provide an excellent source of protein for a perfectly balanced diet too.

Top tip: Use any vegetables you have at home and in your fridge. This is a very flexible recipe and you can adjust and alter it to whatever ingredients you have available at the time. The below is just a guidance of what vegetables and beans you can use but remember, there aren’t any rules when it comes to curries :-)!

I N G R E D I E N T S

coconut oil (or any other oil or water)
1/2 butternut squash (feel free to use other vegetable such as pumpkin, sweet potatoes, aubergine, red peppers,…)
x1 medium courgette
x1 large carrot
x1 large white potato
x3 large tomatoes (or tinned tomatoes)
x1 onion
x2 garlic cloves (I actually forgot to use garlic in this recipe and totally missed it out and I still loved it so, if you don’t have garlic for any reason then don’t worry)
x2 spring onions (not necessary but adds another flavour)
fresh ginger (this is vital for this recipe!)
x1 red chilli (or chilli flakes – personally I never seem to use up fresh chillis and they go off so I always have dried chilli flakes at home at all times)
x1 tsp of turmeric
x2 tsp of curry powder (mild or spicy, up to you)
salt
black pepper
x1 tin of coconut milk
x1 vegetable stock cube
water
red lentils
x1 tin of beans (I used butter beans as they are our favourite but you can use any other beans such as black eyed peas, kidney beans, cannelloni beans, chickpeas,…)
juice of 1/2 lemon
fresh parsley

M E T H O D

STEP 1

Get all your ingredients out so that you can see exactly what you are going to be working with. Cut up all your vegetables ( butternut squash, courgette, carrot, potato) and place into a bowl. I like chopping carrots and white potatoes into smaller pieces as they take longer to cook than the rest of the other vegetables. Dice the onion, spring onions, ginger and chilli and heat up one spoon of coconut oil in a larger pot (ensure you have a big enough pot as this is a one pot recipe).

STEP 2

When the oil is melted, add both onions in first and sauté for a couple of minutes, before adding diced up ginger, garlic and chilli, then cook for further 2 minutes. Add turmeric and curry powder, salt and black pepper and mix all ingredients well. Add a splash of water to lift the flavouring of the pan which will also prevent it from burning. Stir in all your vegetable pieces, add chopped/tinned tomatoes, red lentils, coconut milk, vegetable stock cube and water as needed (not too much as you want your curry to have a creamy consistency) and bring to boil. Turn the heat down, add rinsed beans of your choice, cover with a lid and allow cook slowly, until all vegetables are nice and tender.

Garnish with fresh parsley and serve with rice, couscous or quinoa.